Venezuela recorded 86 oil spills in 2022, an average of seven per month in seven different states in the country. This is what the annual report of the Political Ecology Observatory (OEP) says, released this Tuesday (6).
The entity detailed that these spills, based on information published on social networks and in the local press, occurred in the states of Zulia (31), Falcón (29), Anzoátegui (14), Monagas (five), Carabobo (three), Delta Amacuro and Portuguesa (two each).
The OEP stated that these events affect marine and terrestrial ecosystems, but that “there is no official information” on the number of barrels spilled, nor on the dimensions of the affected areas, nor on the actions that were taken by the Venezuelan regime to remedy the impacts. environmental issues after each incident.
In addition, the OEP said that these spills have “direct implications” both for communities that make a living from fishing, as oil damages their work equipment and forces them into the sea, and for agricultural producers and peasant communities, who lose their crops and livestock.
“In 2022, in addition to the constant spills, there were also fires and explosions in different PDVSA facilities [empresa estatal de petróleo]. The OEP recorded a total of ten incidents of this type in the country”, pointed out the organization, which explained that in many cases, after an oil spill, a fire occurs.
In 2022, the observatory also recorded other accidents in basic industries, such as in the state of Bolívar, with “the dispersion of calcined alumina [óxido de alumínio]”, a substance that “can cause harm to the body and affect the lungs”.
The organization concluded that there is “a pattern of abandonment of socio-environmental management by the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA, which means that the contingencies generated by the industry and the respective harm they cause to local populations have been neglected”.
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